10 of Sci-Fi’s Most Memorable Humans With Programmable Brains

Gabriel Vaughn, the character Josh Holloway -- perhaps better known as Lost's lovable rogue Sawyer -- plays in his new CBS series Intelligence (premiering tonight at 9) may sound familiar to fans of the dear, departed Chuck. Vaughn, described as "an advanced intelligence agent with a microchip implanted in his brain," is the latest in a long line of heroes with computers in their heads -- a line that stretches almost half a century from British puppet shows to anime to comic book supervillains. Read on!

The Terminal Man

Michael Crichton's 1972 novel tells the story of Harry Benson, a scientist who undergoes experimental surgery to insert a computer into his brain to help him avoid blackouts and seizures. As can be expected in any Crichton work, things don't work out well. Benson becomes addicted to the sensations the computer produces to avoid seizures. He turns on his doctors while in search of the ultimate computer-manufactured high and is eventually killed by one of them. Clearly, he should've visited Joe McClaine's spymasters and been implanted with some kind of improved impulse control.

Joe 90

In this 1968 British puppet show, Joe McClaine was like any other 9-year-old, but for one small difference: His computer brain. It was continually updated with the knowledge and skills needed to complete secret missions on behalf of the international spying organization known as the World Intelligence Network. With one spin in a device known as the Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record and Transfer -- BIG RAT, one of the coolest spy acronyms ever -- Joe could become an expert pilot, a neurosurgeon or anything else his handlers required. So what if they were recklessly endangering a preteen. It was for the greater good. That's what science is all about.

The DC Universe's Prometheus

Despite his few appearances, Prometheus was almost the Justice League of America's greatest adversary. The reason why was his usurping of the Joe 90 gimmick and programming his computer-brain with everything he needed to defeat the World's Greatest Superheroes. But his reliance on CD-ROMS, this being the late 1990s, after all, was his downfall -- literally. Batman swapped his martial arts skills isc with one that imprinted him with the motor control of Dr. Stephen Hawking, and the resulting fist fight was shorter than most expected. (Amazingly, that story really was actually published.)

The Ultimate Imposter

Of all the sci-fi heroes you might expect to have been part of the Heroes With Computer Brains tripe, Steve Austen -- aka The Six Million Dollar Man -- would be at the top of many lists. Surprisingly, though, his brain was left untouched as the rest of his body was rebuilt with the height of 1970s technology. It fell to his buddy Joe Patton to take on the brain/technology interface in an episode called "The Ultimate Imposter" -- the pilot for a spin-off that ended up never happening. Like Joe 90, Joe Patton's brain was programmable, allowing him to assume whatever duties were deemed necessary by his employers, with the apparent exception of getting a good haircut. But it was 1977...

M.A.C.H. 1

Steve Austen may not have been given a brain upgrade when his body was rebuilt, but M.A.C.H. 1 -- the British rip-off of the American television series that ran in the pages of 2000AD in the early 1970s -- was. Our hero John Probe received a computer implant that controlled his new "compu-puncture" body. ("Compu-puncture" being the "C" in "M.A.C.H.," an acronym for "Man Activated by Compu-puncture Hyperpower," if you were curious) It also provided tactical information about any situation he found himself in. If this all sounds too good to be true, don't worry; it was later revealed that there was a M.A.C.H. Zero, an earlier prototype where the kinks hadn't been worked out, and who had ended up going insane. So, you know, it doesn't always pay to be an early adopter.

Lobot of Empire Strikes Back

Admittedly, Lobot isn't one of the heroes of The Empire Strikes Back -- hell, he isn't even one of the main characters -- but there are some kids who saw the movie at an impressionable age and wonder about the bald man Lando bossed around on Cloud City. A servant of few words, Lobot defined computer-brained cool much in the same way Boba Fett defined bad-ass bounty hunters, but without the embarrassment of falling into the mouth of a Sarlaac. We can only hope one of the Disney spin-offs will center around this Bespin-bound enigma.

Johnny Mnemonic

Never mind the Keanu Reeves movie of the same name; William Gibson's 1981 short story introduced us to Johnny, who had been given a data storage unit within his own head. This being the future circa 1981, the data could be accessed by those who could wire him up to the appropriate equipment (No Wi-Fi for Mr. Mnemonic) and provide the correct password at the correct time. Of course, this doesn't work out too well, in that Johnny can't get the information out himself, creating some problems down the line. Let that be a lesson to you would-be body hackers: If you're going to turn yourself into an oversized flash drive, ensure that the data you're carrying isn't too well-protected...

Ghost in the Shell

In the world envisioned by Masamune Shirow in this manga and anime series, the brain is just another thing to be adapted to or improved by technology. Even the nearly complete replacement of one's brain is possible, if desired. That raises deep philosophical questions when someone with an upgraded brain suffers an accident so severe it requires replacing her biological body. Is she still the person she was born as, or someone -- something -- else altogether? Such questions, of course, are the things that make classic science-fiction (and also things that Josh Holloway is unlikely to have to answer in Intelligence anytime soon).

Chuck Bartowski

As stated above, Mr. Bartowski -- star of the five-year run of Chuck -- has become the poster boy for the computerized brain strain of science fiction, even if there was a lot about the Intersect that never quite added up. For example -- really, how did all that information get in there? Why was some of the information accessible longterm, and some not? Were the "flashes" meant to be visually triggered, or was that part of the accidental upload? And, most importantly, did the upload actually physically do something to Chuck's brain, and if not, then how did the various upgrades actually work? Now that the show's on Netflix, it's a perfect chance to rewatch the whole thing and try and find out the answers, of course...

Dollhouse, et al

Finally, the creepy, creepy downside of the whole programmable brain idea, Joss Whedon style. Dollhouse was far from an entirely successful show, but it was certainly thought-provoking, exploring just what it would mean to be able to overwrite personalities and skill sets -- and the potential abuses of that technology. Admittedly, anchoring such an exploration around the exploitative hook of a brainwashed escort service was an… interesting choice, but you couldn't fault it for being ambitious, even if it never quite lived up to its own potential. If we're lucky, Intelligence will feature someone hacking into Josh Holloway's head and transforming him into Eliza Dushku's arm candy for an episode, as a small way of trying to even up the scale.